Bitter disappointment
The Ferrari had already realized on Friday during free practice that it would not be easy to contain the new Toyota TR010 Hybrid, but in any case, the aggressive strategy set by the Japanese manufacturer at the start of the 6 hours still surprised the Maranello Scuderia in some ways.
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Toyota lost a position at the start, dropping behind Ferrari #51 and #50, which started on some soft tires, but through the pit stops, it took command of the operations and never relinquished it until the checkered flag. The Virtual Safety Car helped #8 consolidate its leadership by realigning with Ferrari’s strategy also in terms of tire changes, but the triple stint without a tire change before the VSC, which allowed #8 to take the lead of the race, was still a strategic gamble that, according to the data in Ferrari’s possession, was not a viable option.
“From the data we had, we thought it wasn’t possible to do a triple stint – declared Ferrari’s Head of Track Operations Giuliano Salvi as reported by sportscar365.com – when you’re behind, you can do the opposite of what the leader does and gamble; sometimes you’re a hero, sometimes you’re an idiot. Overall, Toyota is the top car right now, no doubt. We also saw it in free practice in our analysis. We thought from the beginning that Toyota would be a very difficult opponent to beat”.
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Tire and fuel management were therefore Toyota’s two big aces up its sleeve to beat Ferrari. In the second half of the race, the Japanese manufacturer also managed to put #7 ahead of #51, a key move according to Antonio Giovinazzi who essentially said on the radio that #7’s ‘block’ definitively secured the victory for #8. According to Salvi, however, this was irrelevant because #8 had the margin to respond to any final push from #51: “That didn’t change anything. It would have been a tighter race, but they had the margin to keep us at bay, I’m quite sure.”
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